A new study brings good news for older adults with high blood pressure. It shows that taking blood pressure medicine might help lower the risk of getting dementia as you age.
This means that managing your blood pressure could do more than protect your heart—it might also protect your brain.
High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is very common in older people.
It can lead to serious health problems like heart disease, stroke, and kidney damage. But researchers have also noticed that it may be linked to dementia.
Dementia is when a person has trouble with memory, thinking, and daily decision-making. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type, but there are others too.
Living with dementia can be very hard for both the person and their family.
To better understand this link, scientists studied the health records of more than 34,000 older adults. They wanted to see if taking blood pressure medicine made a difference in who developed dementia over time.
The participants were split into three groups. One group had high blood pressure but didn’t take any medicine.
Another group had high blood pressure and took medicine to manage it. The third group didn’t have high blood pressure at all.
After watching these people for many years, the researchers found some interesting patterns. People who had high blood pressure and didn’t take any medicine had the highest risk of getting dementia. But those who took medication had a much lower risk—almost as low as people who didn’t have high blood pressure to begin with.
This is encouraging news. It suggests that if you have high blood pressure and take medicine to manage it, you might be helping your brain stay healthy too. In fact, the difference in dementia risk between people who took the medicine and those who never had high blood pressure was very small. That means the medicine may work well to protect the brain.
It’s important to understand that this study shows a strong connection, but it doesn’t prove that the medicine directly prevents dementia. Other healthy habits might also be playing a role. Even so, these results give doctors and patients another reason to take blood pressure seriously.
If you have high blood pressure, talk to your doctor about the best way to manage it. This might include medicine, eating more fruits and vegetables, cutting back on salt, staying active, and avoiding smoking. All of these steps can help lower your blood pressure and keep your heart and brain healthy.
This study is a reminder that looking after your body today can make a big difference in your future. Taking care of your blood pressure now may help you avoid memory and thinking problems later in life. That’s something worth thinking about.
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The research was published in JAMA Network Open.
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